But when Lindsey Vonn raised them in
the air triumphantly Thursday evening, she got the same kind of cheers she might
have gotten at the bottom of a mountain, after a victorious ski run. Even if
this wasn't a ski run but a runway.

Vonn, the 2010 Olympic gold medalist who had to forgo the Sochi Games due to a bad knee injury, was clearly making
the most of her time off the slopes as she joined some 20 other women at the
Red Dress Collection, an annual event that has become the traditional kickoff
to New York Fashion Week. It features celebrities from various fields strutting
the runway to bring awareness to heart disease.

The first Red Dress show was held in
2001, at the beginning of the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute's
campaign to reach out to women.

This year, there was a special
emphasis on getting the word out to younger women, too, who might not yet be
thinking about taking care of their hearts. And so a number of young
celebrities walked the runway, including Bella Thorne, the 16-year-old actress
best known from the Disney Channel series "Shake It Up." Though she
was the youngest, Thorne was one of the most confident and relaxed of the
evening's models, sauntering with aplomb atop her gold heels in a long Badgley
Mischka number.

Thorne, who has experienced heart
disease in her family, said before the show that she was excited and a little
nervous, but also looked forward to "that feeling you get when you know
what you're doing is making a difference."

Victoria Justice, 20, best known for
starring in the Nickelodeon TV series "Victorious," said it was her
first experience on the runway (she got to wear Oscar de la Renta). Like many
who participated, she has a personal connection to heart disease; her friend
and stylist has suffered from it, and so she wanted to help bring awareness to
fellow young women. "I'm young, but I know it's something you have to be
on the lookout for," she said.

Actress AnnaSophia Robb, who ended the
show in an Alice + Olivia strapless gown, is also only 20, but there's been
heart disease in her family. And so she came, she said, "to be part of a
community."

"It's important to be aware of
your family's history, and to be cautious," she said. "I'm not
worried now, but I know that I have to take this issue seriously."